Hillsborough, Somerset County, and Central New Jersey - News from Yesterday, Today

18 October 2012

Annie Beekman, Strangled. Part Two

The home of Jacob Johnson, south of Somerville, NJ, Sunday, September 15, 1895. Annie Beekman, a twenty-three-year-old former Hillsborough resident visiting the area for the first time in two years lies in the back room of Jacob Johnson's modest cabin on the Elmendorf estate. She is dead.

Jacob Johnson's cabin was on the Elemndorf estate. The main house is at Duke Farms.

In the front room are Johnson and his wife, along with the Somerset County Prosecuter, Constable Moore, and railroad flagman Joseph Gorman. It was Gorman who alerted authorities that he could positively identify the dark-skinned black man and lighter-skinned woman who he saw crossing the tracks of the South Branch Railroad near the Raritan River late the previous evening - and that is what he has just done.

Annie Beekman's body was discovered by local laborer Peter Dow earlier that same morning. It was obvious as he approached the body lying in a wooded area between the wagon road and the river that the woman was dead - and that she had been murdered. Her bodice was torn, corset wire ripped out, and finger marks were about her throat. Coroner Brady, one of the first officials at the scene, ordered the body be taken to the nearest house, that of Jacob Johnson - a laborer employed on the estate of JB Duke, and a preacher of some renown in the local black community.

Despite the failure of Coroner Brady to adequately secure the crime scene - evidence including footprints was trampled by curiosity seekers - it was obvious that the murder had taken place on the road, and the body had been dragged into the woods. An empty purse lying nearby pegged the motive as robbery.

Somerset County Courthouse, 1891

The prosecutor confronted Johnson: hadn't he been seen all over Somerville the previous evening with the deceased, drinking in at least two different establishments? How could he answer the accusation of Joe Gorman, who saw him and the deceased together not far from the site of the murder after 10 pm last evening?

Johnson insisted that he left Annie Beekman alive in the company of two white men at around 10 pm, and immediately returned home. Johnson's son later admitted in court that his parents had argued that night upon Johnson's return, his mother demanding an explanation as to why he had been out all evening with Annie, instead of home with his family.

Overwhelming circumstantial evidence which placed Johnson at the scene of the crime with motive and opportunity was enough for a grand jury and eventually a trial jury conviction. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Johnson went to the gallows in Somerville on May 5, 1897. In an ironic twist, he was cut from the scaffold after seven minutes, but was not yet dead. As doctors felt for a pulse and listened for a heartbeat, the noose, still tight about his neck, continued to do its work. A few minutes later, he was pronounced dead - cause of death: strangulation.

About the Author

Greg is a longtime New Jersey resident and has lived in Hillsborough since 1993. He was elected to the Hillsborough Township Board of Education in 2007 and also serves as chair of the Historic Preservation Commission. He has also served on the Hillsborough-Millstone Municipal Allianceand as chair of the Cultural Arts Commission. Greg and his wife, Patty, have also served as co-chairmen of "Central New Jersey Walk Now for Autism", the local chapter of the international research and awareness organization Autism Speaks.
A music major at New York University, Greg spent most of his career in the Entertainment Division of the Six Flags Corporation where he was primarily responsible for writing and producing live educational assembly programs for New Jersey school children. Since 2000, he has been a full-time stay-at-home dad, concentrating on raising his two children, and on community service.
Besides his other activities, Greg writes The View From Hillsborough blog for MyCentralJersey.com, which has also been featured over 175 times in The Courier News.
Greg's other interests include music, reading, photography, history, and genealogy.